Brick-handling apparatus.



r R. A. FONTAINE. BRICK HANDLING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 5, 1917.

3 SHEETS-$HEET 1.

, Patented Jan. 8, 1918.

R. A. FONTAINE.

BRICK HANDLING APPARATUS- FPLICATIDN FILED FEB. 5,1917.

' Patented Jan. 8, 1918.

3 SHEFTS-SHEET Z- Wi t m am R. A. FGNTAINB.

BRICK HANDLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 5, IBM.

Pdtented Jan.8,1918.

I 3 SHEE TSSHEET 3- k W- A? I A? t A w k I W I I 0 I 5 ROBERT A. FONTAINE, OF ROANOKE, VIRGINIA. ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF 'IO G. '1. GBEEB,

m M OF ICE.

OF BO ANOKE, VIRGINIA.

BRICK-HANDLING APPARAT U S.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT A. FONTAINE,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Roanoke, in the county of Roanoke and State ofv Virginia, have invented a new and charge.

A. further object is to providea special form of truck which can be readily actuated for the purpose of loading a hack thereon or unloading it therefrom and wlnch is used in connection with a brick grippin structure of novel form constituting the ody of the truck while the bricks are being con veyed.

A further object is to provide bllCk handling apparatus in which the bricks can be stacked and which apparatus, as soon as it upcn the is lifted, will operate to clamp bricks so as to hold them against isplacement relative to each other, thus causing them to maintain their proper positions in the body until said'body has been lifted onto the truck the lowering of the body to the round also resulting in a gripping of the Ericks so that'they will not fall therefrom.

It is a well known fact that where the usual methods are used for handling bricks in conve ing them from the kilns to the yard or mm the kilns or yard to the point of use, considerable loss of time takes place because of the timerequiredto load and unload thebody of the vehicle. One of the objects of the present invention is to provide means whereby while a vehicle is in use hauling afloadv from one point to another .bricks maybe placed in a stack within a,

separate body where they can await the arrival of the truck whereupon saidtruck can be operated to lift the entire hackof bricks into position on the truck without any of the bricks becoming displaced. relative .to' each other. Theempty body left at the ln'lu or Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J'an. s, 1918.

Application filed February 5, 1917. Serial No. 146,754.

yard can thus be filled and left awaiting the I return of the truck. Thus the entire time of the truck is utilized in hauling-and no. tedious delays are necessary in order to permit loading or unloading of the truck.

VViththe foregoingand other objects in view which will appearras the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment ot the invention herein disclosed, can be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of'the invention.

'70 In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings 1 Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a truck having the present improvements combined therewith and showing the body in position when about to be loadedonto the truck.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the body in position on the truck.

Fig; 3 is a rear elevation of the bodyand showing the bricks piled therein.

' Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the body.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1 designates a portion'of a truck of any preferred construction and upstancb" ing from the rear portion of the chassis of y the truck are brackets 2 to each of which is secured a frameB mounted to swin about an anti-friction roller 5. This roller 15 loa piyot 4 which constitutes a bearing-for 7 while the front. ortion. is attached to a toothed segment 8 raced by an arm 9e!- tending from the frame 3. The segment is I in mesh with a gear 10 secured to a shaft 11 which is adapted to be rotated by means of a crank arm 12 or in any other. suitable manner. Each of the frames is provided with atoothed segment 8 and both segments mesh with gears 10, the shaft 11 being e1t-v tended through both. ears. This shaft is ture carried by the truck.

Each frame has an arm 13 exteriding I downwardly and rearwardly from thee pivotal portion thereof and on which is i015 journaled on any suita le supportingstruca journaled an anti-friction roller 14, this roller being mounted on a transverse shaft 15 to which is pivotally connected a hook 16.

The detachable body of the truckincll ldes parallel beams 17 on which are secured cross bars 18 having standards 19 at the ends thereof to which are secured the side panels 19 of the body. The bottom 20 of the bodly is secured on the transverse bars 18.

heavy channel beam 20 is secured to thesides and bottom of the body at one end. The other end of the body is closed by a panel 21. Thus it will be seen that the body is closed at its bottom, sides and one end while its top and one end are open.

An intermediate beam 22 is secured along the bottom 20 and is provided at one end with a supporting arm 23 which intersects the open end ofthe body and is perpendicular to the bottom 20.

Bearings 91 are secured to the ends 21 of the body and journaled therein is a shaft 25 on the end portions of which arejournaled sleeves 26'having'radial-.i-rms 27 which extend close to and lap the respective side panels 19.

Secured to the side portions of the channel beam 20 are brackets 28 to each of which is pivotally connected a U-shaped lever 29 one end of which is pivotally attached as at 30 to a clamping shoe 31 while the other'end is pivotally connected as at 31 to a link 32. All of the links 32 at each side of the body are pivotally connected to transverse links 33 and theintermediate portions of these trans verse links areeonnected by links 34 to an equalizing link 35. This equalizin link is connected by a link 36 to one end of the adjacent arm 27.

'An anti-friction roller 37 is mounted -on each of the arms 27 and is so positioned that when thebody is placed on end with the shoes 31 engaging the ground, said roller will be'in position to engage the hook ends 7 of'the'rails 6.

'Studs 38 extend laterally from the side portions of the body and are so located as to be readily engaged the hooks 16 when the body is on end.

Inu'smg the apparatus, thebody is placed onend as shown '-in Figs. 1, 3 and 41, and

- the bricks to be transported are'piled within 'been .filled the truckis backed the frames f3 are swun upwa l the-body so as to brace the arm 23 as shown particularly in Fig. 3, these bricks practically filling the body. After the body has to it and v so that the hooks wiill' be rea ilyins erti eninder the anti-friction rollers 37. The frames fie;

are theriswun downwaadly and forwardly byjiheansof t'e gears 10, thereby bringing the hoiiks 7 in engagement with the rollers 37 as shown in Fig. 1. As the downward movement of the-segments 8 continues the rear ends of the rails 6 will push upwardly 'rear ends during the downward movement ofthe segments 8, the body with the load therein is swung forwardly and downwardly until the bottom of the body is brought to position on. the anti-friction rollers 5, whereupon the rollers 37 will gravitate downwardly and forwardly along the inclined rails 6 as shown in Fig. 2,-thereby bringing the load onto the truck. The load can thus be conveyed to the point of delivery and in the meantime another body can be loaded ready for the return of the truck. When the truelcreaches the point of delivery the operation'before described is reversed and the body is lowered with its lower end lowermost until it reaches the ground, the bricks being held against dropping out of the body by the clamping action of the shoes 31 upon the lower courses of the bricks forming the hack. As soon as the body deposited on the ground with the load, the shoes will be relieved of the pull exerted through the links and, by placing the hooks 16 in engagement with the lugs 38 and moving the truck forward, the body will be pulled away from the bricks and the arm 23 will be withdrawn from under the courses therabove. Thus the bricks will be left standing and their delivery .Will be effected without breakage and without the necessity of counting them, it

being known in advance how many bricks constitute a load sufficient to completely fill the body.

It is to be understood that it is not necessary to place thehooks. 16 in engagementwith the studs 38 during the loading operation.

What is claimed is 1. The combination with a truck, of a do tachable bodyhaving an open end and top, means connected to the body for engaging the bottom portion of a hack of bricks or the like within said body when the body is placed with its lower end lowermost, and cooperating means .upon the truck and body for successively shifting said clamping means to grip the contents of the body and lift said body onto the truck.

cessively shifting the clamping means to bind upon the contents of the body and to elevate the body onto the" truck. 3 v

3. The combination with a body 0 en at one endand at its top and opposed l'oa gripping members at the sides of the oody, of

a truck, a supporting structure on the truck and mounted to swing about a substantially horizontal axis, and means .upon the body and coiiperating with the supporting structure for successively shifting the 1p mg r members to gripping position and ii ting the body onto the truck. i

4. The combination with a body having an open top and end, of opposed series or gripplng elements atxthe sides of the body, links pivotally connected tothe sides of the body,

equalizers connecting said links to the respective series of gripping elements, a truck,

body with the loa onto the truck.

and cooperating means upon the truck and links for successively actuating the gripping elements to bind u on a load and to grip the 5. The combination with a body having an open top and end and a fixed sup orting element extending across the open end of the body from the bottom thereof, of opposed. series of gripping elements connected to the sides of the. body at said end, a truck, a su porting structure mounted to swing on tie truck about a substantially horizontal axis, means movably connected to the'bod for. engagement by said structure, and equa izing connections between said means and the respectiveseries of gripping elements.

6. The combination with a truck and a supporting structure H mounted to swing thereon about a substantially horizontal axis, said structure includingrails having hooks at their terminals, and means for swinging the structure, of a body having,

an open top andend, a loadsupporting arm extending from the bottom of the body and across the open end thereof, opposed series of gripping elements connected to the sides of'the body 'forwbinding portions of a load against said arm, means movably connected to the body for engagement by" the hooked ends of the rails, and mechanism operated by said means when shifted relative to the body for simultaneously actuating the gripping elements to bind the load.

7. The combination with a truck and a structure mounted to swing thereon about end, a load supporting arm extending from the bottom 'ofthe body and across sa d end, opposed series of gripping elements for binding a portion of the load upon the arm,

anti-friction means movably connected to the body for engagement by the rails, equalizing connections between said means and the gripping elements,i.and means operated through the motive the contents of the by the tilting of the supporting structure for succesively actuating said gripping means and elevating the body onto the structure.

8. The combination with a truck, rails mounted to swing thereon about transverse axis, of a load holding body, means actuated by the elevation 0 said body for binding upon the load, and means for actuating the rails to elevate the body and direct sai bodyonto the truck.

9. The combination with a tr'uckflhavin anti-friction devices thereon at one end, 0 a tiltable structure including rails havin hooked terminals, means foractuating sai structure to elevate said hooked terminals and bring the rails to downwardly and forwardly inclined positions, a load holding body, means thereon for engagement by the i rails to, elevate the body and move it forwardly by gravity onto the truck, means operated by the elevation of the body f0 bindin on the load; i

10. he combination witha truck and a.

minals of the rails, meclfanismo erated' bji' the shifting of said means I'BlatlVG to the body for actuatin to engage saidmeans on the body and e e; vate the bod onto the truck, and means on the truck or engagm the body to with- ,draw said body from "t a load while the body; is standing with its oponend downwar I i a 11. The combination with atruck having a tiltable structure thereon including rail? of a body havi-n an open end and tog an adapted to stan with said 0 n end own- .ward, means on the sides 0 the body for gripping the load within the body, means operated by the tiltin of the structure on the truck for successive y actuating the grip ping means and lifting the body onto the truck, and cooperating means upon the truck and body forsliding said body away from the load while the body is standing on end.

12. The combination with a truck, of a detachable body open at one end' and atthe top, means-carried by the truck forsetting the. body upon the ground with its open top'to the rear and vgth its "openend downward, means carried y the body for releasing said body from its contents when the body is set upon the ground, and means coiiperating between the truck and the body a a for withdrawing the body-from itscontents ggwer of the truck when dy ,is so released.

the gripping elements," means for tilting t e structure on the trn k-- 13. The combination with a truck, of a detachable body havin an open side, means carried by the truck or raising said body and depositing it upon the ground, and

means incorporated in the body and actuated by the weight of the contents thereof, for

gripping the contents while the body is being raised, and for releasing the contents when the body is deposited upon the ground,

and means for dragging 'said body away from its'contents when so released.

14. In a loading and unloading device, a. conveying vehicle, a load-carrying body having an open top and an open end, means for carrying the said body upon the vehicle with its-open top upward, and means for applying the body thereto and removing it therefrom, the said body being adapted when removed from the vehicle to be deposited upon its open end and clamps located near the open end of the body adapted to hold the contents while the body is being lowered.

Intestimony that I claim the foregoingas my own, I have hereto afiixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

ROBERT A. FONTAINE.

Witnesses I H. B. GREGORY,

ASHBY 'WILLIAMs. 

